Qualla: Edinburgh Trams

Edinburgh Trams: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit M J Richardson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Edinburgh ripped out its old tram network in November 1956, replacing it with diesel buses in what then seemed like progress. Half a century later the city changed its mind. The plan announced in 2003 was bold: a network of new light rail lines reaching across the city. The execution was painful. By the time a single tram finally rolled down Princes Street on 31 May 2014, the project had cost 776 million pounds, fallen years behind schedule, and provoked a public inquiry. What opened was a fraction of the plan - just 8.7 miles, airport to York Place. But the trams returned to Leith in 2023, and the people who waited two decades now find the things hard to imagine the city without.

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Image: M J Richardson | CC BY-SA 2.0

Edinburgh Trams: The Old System

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0. Edinburgh ran a horse-drawn tramway from 1871, electrified the lines through the 1920s, and at the network's peak operated 33 routes across the city. Leith - which had been swallowed by Edinburgh in 1920 - had run its own electric trams since 1905 on different track gauge and vol...

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Image: Kim Traynor | CC BY-SA 3.0

Edinburgh Trams: The Long, Painful Project

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit morebyless, CC BY 2.0. Plans for a new tram network were authorised by the Scottish Parliament in 2006 - the Edinburgh Tram (Line One and Two) Acts received Royal Assent that April. The original scheme had three lines totalling 33 km of track. Construction began on Line 1a in 2008. Work was riven by di...

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Image: morebyless | CC BY 2.0

Edinburgh Trams: The Newhaven Extension

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Turner, CC BY-SA 2.0. In March 2019 the City of Edinburgh Council approved an extension of 4.7 km from York Place, down Leith Walk, through the historic port, and on to Newhaven. Construction began in November 2019 - just months before COVID-19 paralysed the world - and the new section opened on 7 Jun...

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Image: Brian Turner | CC BY-SA 2.0

Edinburgh Trams: The Trams Themselves

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter Broster, CC BY 2.0. The fleet of 27 vehicles is built by Spanish manufacturer CAF - Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. They are Urbos 3 model, bi-directional, 42.8 metres long, with low-floor access to meet UK accessibility rules. The original 40-million-pound contract specified enough tram...

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Image: Peter Broster | CC BY 2.0

Edinburgh Trams: Cyclists, Pedestrians and the Hazards of Rails

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CAPTAIN RAJU, CC0. The Edinburgh tram has had a difficult relationship with cyclists from the start. Bike wheels can wedge in the rail grooves at exactly the wrong angle, or skid on the metal in wet weather. A study published in 2018 found that 191 cyclists had been hurt seriously enough to require...

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Image: CAPTAIN RAJU | CC0